This invention was made in connection with work supported in part by a Bioengineering Research Partnership Grant 5R01 CA84588 from the National Cancer Institute and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.
The present invention relates to systems for diagnosis or therapy using ultrasound. In particular the invention relates to systems which may use transducer assemblies of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,484,569, which is assigned to the assignee of the present application, and which is incorporated therein by reference.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,484,569 describes a transducer assembly that enables imaging of tissue and the application of High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) by providing a diagnostic transducer that is mounted on a HIFU transducer and has a common radiation axis therewith.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,039,689, which is assigned to the same assignee as the present application, and incorporated hereby by reference, there is described a HIFU transducer having segmented electrodes which allow steering or refocusing of the HIFU focal point by variation of the electronic signals applied to the electrode segments.
It is an object of the present invention to provide methods for ultrasound diagnosis and treatment wherein the transducer can be located or focused according to the tissue characteristics.